"I," sobbed Sybil, "oh, dear madam, I go with you."
"To ward?"
"To death, madam—my second mother! for such, indeed, you have been."
"My puir bairn, thou hast nowhere else to go; for thy father is in exile, and Hamilton of Dalserf holds his castle and barony of Kilspindie."
"Lady Ashkirk, where is your daughter, the Lady Jane?" said the herald, unwilling to say that his cruel warrant included her also.
"She is at the convent of Sienna, where, I pray you, to let her hear these heavy tidings gently." The herald bowed with increasing gravity. "But whither go we now—to the castle, of course?"
"Nay, madam, to the tower of Inchkeith."
"A sure place, and a strong too! The high rocks and the deep waves were not required surely to fence in a feeble auld body like mine. Be it so—I am ready! Oh, for a score of those good men and true, that my husband led to the battle of Linlithgow! Where now are all the gallant and the generous hearts of other days?"
"God hath taken them to himself, madam," replied the herald, whose eyes moistened.
"Your pardon, sir; I knew not that I spoke aloud."